FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. - Bells tolled and a moment of silence was observed Friday in Newtown on the six-month anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that took the lives of 26 children and teachers.

As volunteers in Newtown read the names of all 6,003 people who have died in gun violence since Dec. 14, lawmakers across the state were speaking about the measures taken in the wake of the tragedy.

“It's hard to imagine that six months have passed since that terrible day,” said Gov. Dannel Malloy. “In that time, we have mourned deeply for those we lost and done our best to move forward in a way that honors their memory."

Malloy also announced an allocation of $750,000 toward the design of a new building for Sandy Hook Elementary School in hopes of moving the project forward quickly.

State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, whose district includes Newtown, said, “On the six-month anniversary of 12/14, my thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and their families. I am pleased that the State of Connecticut is contributing to the effort to help Newtown heal and rebuild.”

The Connecticut General Assembly has approved legislation authorizing a separate allocation of up to $50 million in bonding for the school's construction.

"There are many decisions to be made when it comes to the construction of a new school. There will be many challenges along the way," he said. "But it’s my hope that by announcing this funding today, we can help Newtown continue with the healing process. Our thoughts are with those 26 angels today and their families. Their memories will forever be close to our hearts.”

In addition to the legislation to build a new school, Connecticut has passed some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, limiting the magazine capacity, banning assault style weapons and looking toward mental health issues.

"In the six months since tragedy struck Newtown, Congress has shamefully failed to act," U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said in a statement. "In Congress, it’s our responsibility to listen to the will of the people, and the people have spoken time and time again: the time is now for passage of common sense gun legislation. The public has grieved with Newtown families. It has felt pain, anger, and heartache since the massacre on December 14, and it has called for action. Ninety percent of Americans support background checks, and the majority of Americans support a ban on high-capacity magazines."

Congress failed to pass a publicly popular background check law in April.

“I will work with redoubled determination to pass sensible gun violence reforms – inspired by the great educators and beautiful children who perished six months ago, and by all who have pledged that their lives shall not be lost in vein. We are so close – and I hope we can change minds and votes before another six-month anniversary is reached,” U.S. Sen. Richard Bumenthal said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-5th District, echoed that sentiment in a statement. “I’m inspired every day by the people of Newtown, and I will continue fighting to ensure they get the vote they deserve.”

Comments (34)

When you look at the obsessive insane delusional rambling of the pro gun group it just confirms the need for gun control. They seem to be obsessed with the subject just look at the repeated posts from certain individuals.. They seem to feel by replying with thier lies and propaganda that someone may actually believe their nonsense.. Wait you all will see how the clowns rush to reply to my post..

And while they had classroom lessons on firearms( I believe it still exists in many places. there are a lot of high school rifle clubs. maybe not as many as there was a while ago) we here in the 21st century living in town have drivers ed. Amish kids know how to plant from seed and sheep on some Pakistani plateau were not affected by the Y2K scare. There are places in the world that have never heard of or seen an oyster and we use to trade the Russians oysters for caviar.
There was a tight rope walking bagpiper in central park
there was steam rising up from the ground
He wore his cape out after dark..

These Huffington Post stories seem to be all about minorities (judging by ghetto- style first names, cities, diets, family circumstances, speech styles etc.) Minorities have traditionally had a violent record of using straight razors, knives, and, increasingly, firearms, to cause mayhem in their communities. The obvious solution would be to target strict gun control measures at non-Asian minorities, but that might raise significant constitutional issues. The liberal response to gun violence seems to be to deprive ALL citizens of their rights guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment, and we lawful gun-owners reject that attempt, and will not obey any laws directed at us.
Incidentally, I am skeptical about the ability of a two year old to possess the hand strength to fire a large caliber revolver--unless it were lying loaded and cocked, in which case the adult needs to be incarcerated for a long period of time.
Thanks for posting this article, as tendentious as it is.

Blabbermouth68, you have hit on a real solution which could be implemented to solve our national problem locally. First, we get a Federal law which aims to prevent guns being transported into zones of fanatically-strict gun laws, preferably at the municipal level.
Then each municipality or state can vote themselves the strictest or most liberal gun laws they can muster. We will have local solutions voted in by the people who are suffering the most. If black folks want a no-gun regime in their community, they get it. If a white farm group wants no local restrictions, they vote that in.
If the Feds find someone introducing guns into a no-gun zone, the perp goes away for 20 years, 30 years and life, depending on 1st, 2nd or 3rd offense.
If we already have a Federal law or laws like this on the books, throw some money at staffing and resources to make results happen in real time.
Our government was set up to operate this way in order to recognize the vast regional and cultural differences which make up our country.
If towns can prohibit alcoholic beverages, why can't they vote themselves gun-free if that is their desire? It's the American way to empower our citizens.

Sounds good, but unfortunately, the strictest gun laws in the nation are in Chicago, ILL and Washington, D.C. New York City is third runner up. Regretably, those laws have not stemmed the tide of gun violence in any of those cities. I wish the answer was that easy.

One of the saddest testimonies I heard was recently given by black father to a Congressional delegation regarding amnesty. His son was returning from the mall and was literally gunned down in front of his house by a total stranger. The perp, an illegal alien out on an early release program, shot the 17 year old in the stomach and then stood over him and fatally shot him in the head because the victim was black and carrying a red backpack.

The father wanted to know why the perp wasn't deported when he was picked up for his first crime, and why he wasn't turned over to the immigration authorities when he released six months early. The perp was released early because the prisons in California are overcrowded. As for the perp, he didn't care who he murdered or what laws he broke. And therein lies the problem.

Mary Jane Nelson does not speak for me. I care about the gun violence in Chicago -- alot! You'll see that the gun laws didn't change, the policing methods did. However, for the 117 families who suffered the tragedies of losing a loved one, it still was devastating.

June 5, 2013 7:36 PM

How did Chicago cut gun violence after deadly year?

(CBS News) CHICAGO - A year ago, one of America's great cities had become one of its deadliest as gun violence exploded in Chicago. By this time last year, 179 people had been shot to death. This year, the number is 117 - a drop of 35 percent.

The police fanning out across Chicago these days are increasingly confident that their strategy is working.

The most tangible results have come in the aftermath of the well-documented murder of 15-year-old honor student Hadiya Pendleton in January. The shooting riveted the city and pressured its officials to crack down.

Since then, Chicago has undergone a transformation that puts it on pace with the lowest annual murder rate here since 1964.

"We did not have a comprehensive gang violence reduction strategy, and it took us a little bit to put it together," said Garry McCarthy, the police superintendent. "The methods that we're using today did not really exist a little more than a year ago."

Four hundred extra officers have been assigned to 20 impact zones, where violence has been habitual. Gang leaders have been targeted for questioning and surveillance, and block-by-block data on gang activity is constantly updated.

more people die in the bathroom every year than from guns...time to ban bathrooms...more people die in car accidents every year than guns..time to ban cars..drownings in backyard pools...time to ban pools...if it saves just one life it is worth it...

I volunteer to go to the bathroom, drive to a movie, take a dip in the pool. I won't volunteer to be gunned down dead by a stranger. Do you see the Apples and Orange's in your flawed argument supporting gun ownership?

Uh, have you ever heard of Fast & Furious? The Feds set that one up and forced the gun dealers to sell to people who they knew would be smuggling the arms into Mexico. God alone knows how many innocent Mexican citizens died because of that wonderful little program.

Any gun dealer will tell you that the AFT will pull their license without hesitation for the merest pretext. Mark Kelly, Gabby Gifford's husband, tried to buy a AR-15 type gun in Arizona to prove how "easy" it was to get a firearm like that back in Marsh. Oops, it blew back in his face big time. Fortunately, the gun dealer was careful and thorough and cancelled the deal. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292438/Mark-Kelly-Gabby-Giffords-husband-buying-handgun-assault-rifle.html

Thats cool, but in the same 6 months at least 250,000 citizens used a gun to prevent a crime, thats a conservative govt statistic, others would have it over a million. So, while it is true that people do stupid tragic things with guns, as we do with everything, its also true that we use guns much much more frequently for good, safe, legal things, just like we do with most things.
In fact, a casual look at our history should make it evident that gun control more likely caused Sandy hook than anything else.

Somebody who can compile that list of trivia is certainly capable of realizing that from 1790 to 1990 school shooting were very very very rare. All throught that time frame guns were permitted in schools & more often than not shooting was part of the voluntary curriculum. In other words they had school rifle instruction. Yet as I said, mass school shootings were unheard of.
Then in 1990 the nation passed a gun free school law, but at least the federal law exempted people with permits to carry. It basically barred people who already shouldnt be carrying from carrying in a school. Almost immediately we see an upswing in school shootings. Not to be outdont CT passed its own more restrictive law in 92 barring ANYONE (except police of course) from posessing a gun on school grounds, even if you had a background check & permit. Kinda funny in retrospect, the same idiots who are calling for universal background checks dont think that they mean much since EVERY permit holder in CT has already had one.

Anyway, with the passage of that single bill into law, our legislature guaranteed that when the law of averages pulled our number and sent a murderous evil person to one of our schools, that person could proceed with the knowledge he was safe, that law guarantees that every single time somebody wants to wreak havoc on a school he will succeed, even now, today 6 months later a madman can walk into any school in ct and do what Adam lanza did. Not because of inaction today, but because of 11 year old legislation.

But hey lets just ignore that and move on says the CT legislature & its liberal supporters.

Ken,
Please understand I don't want anyone to take away your gun(s).
I'm all for you having a weapon, it's what helps you sleep at night.
I'd like a flame thrower but I think it's an illegal 'fire 'arm.

About your 250,000. It truly boils down to one sixth of that and that 1/6th used their weapon against an unarmed person(s), half of which were fleeing at the time. Don't ask me to prove myself. Do some True Independent reading.
Paige offered me something to read and I guess because I'm on the other side of the fence I found facts and figures that support my stance, not hers and if nothing else it was from a study that ended in 1993. It began with 2.5 million and quickly diluted to 800,000 and diluted again and again as parameters were defined.
I know your thought on only the bad men will have guns then. If they shoot themselves I don't care. It's the good guys that really do not need a gun that end up living with the thought of a lost family member through careless that I do care about, much more.
I hope you never have to pull the trigger. I have and I still have those images in my head. Perhaps that's why I have no interest in the personal family images of mangled minor children in a heap of blood and flesh in the back corner of a classroom..
Having the right to something and exercising that right needs to be balanced in justice.
I'm sure you are going nuts over the government tracking all of Verizon customers calls and texts. I am to on a purist level but because I know it can only affect me in a positive way, I'm almost alright with it.
Have a good day and stay out of trouble.

@ KenP Jr. " in the same 6 months at least 250,000 citizens used a gun to prevent a crime ". That's about 1,375 / day. Could you post 2 of these events a day, please? Just 1.8% of these events. Occasionally we all see a shop owner chasing a kid with his broom or a bodega operator shooting at an already closed glass shop-front door.
You say it's " a conservative govt statistic ". This should prove easy for you

I certainly am aware of all types of search engines and accelerators.
The problem for many is the extrapolation and comprehension of the derived data and how they process it in their own minds let alone compiling the facts for a few not able to enjoy the results.
Some people believe that it is impossible to convert a semi to full auto with just a small at home machine shop and instructions off the internet.

I'm not very smart at all. One of the most detracting things about having a double masters from NYU is that my scope is so limited and so much went past me while I was raising kids and going to university. Not very smart at all except about a limited and now outdated knowledge of a very few specific things.
Thanks for you input and at keeping my feet on the ground and you giving up those lofty goals of a G.E.D.

Remember, not every incident involving a firearm that actually stops a crime is reported and even among those that are, not every story is picked up by the news agencies.

On the way back to Norwalk today I heard a partial report from WTNH about some perp being held at gunpoint until the police arrived. Unfortunately, I didn't hear the beginning of the story, so I can't tell you where, but it must have been recent.

I'd like to discount the story from the U.K. for more than one reason.

Anyway, did you notice it was a burglar not a robber? Robber's have guns.
So her .357 went up against an unarmed man.

That was June

An Indiana woman held a drunken home intruder at gunpoint until the police arrived. Normally, we love to hear stories of gun owners trumping stupid criminals, but more than anything else this one looks like it was all just a simple mistake

Lacks intention crime
That was May

Police arrested the intruder, Bruce Linson, 22, and an alleged accomplice, Tyler Robart, 20, both of Fremont. They were booked into the Douglas County Jail on suspicion of burglary

Unarmed
That was April

One of the most common and persuasive arguments against gun control is that guns offer a means with which good guys can protect themselves from bad guys.
In practice, unfortunately, the guns that good guys own to protect themselves from bad guys too often end up killing the good guys' kids or wives or the good guys themselves (either via suicide, accident, or, in some cases, because they're grabbed by the bad guys and used against the good guys). Or, as in the case of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, the guns kill people who the good guys think are bad guys but who aren't actually bad guys

Yeah that's what most of us thing Paige
That was March

A Nederland homeowner woke up to an intruder in his home on the 100 block of Ave. D Saturday night and held him at gunpoint until police arrived.
Investigators say the suspect was not very smart, he shattered the front door made of glass and pulled out a knife as a weapon.

Neighbors are using the homeowner's quick thinking as a lesson learned, in the normally quiet neighborhood.

"God no! I've been here 20 years now and this is the first incidence that has happened here in this area." neighbor Michael Mitchell said.

He lives just two doors down from where the invasion happened.

It's Texas he must be the only one using a knife. You can't fix stupid.
That was February.

The mother of nine year-old twins noticed movement outside of her home as she glanced downward through a window in her upstairs office. Immediately alarmed, she moved closer to the window to get a clearer view and there she saw a strange man peering intently through the downstairs window into her home.
Her thoughts going immediately to the safety of her children, she urgently pulled the.38 caliber revolver from its hiding place and surged into the other room to gather the twins. Terrified, she called her husband and corralled her children into an attic crawl space just as the sound of a crash reverberated through her home.

The terrifying intruder was now in the home with both her and her young.
As the intruder searched throughout the home, it became obvious that the man was not seeking their property so much as he was seeking either her or her children for something even more nefarious. She cocked the revolver as the sound of the man grew closer; she shushed her children as she urgently whispered to her husband.

As the door knob turned, the delicate woman's thoughts flew through all of the possibilities and all of the possible outcomes. None of them were pleasant, but as terror surged though her, another feeling took over. A mixture of outrage coalesced with the fury of a mother's cold rage at the threat to the thing that meant more to her than anything else in the world.

Woman hiding with kids shoots intruder
Time slowed down painfully as the door creaked open; now the man was before her, a large shadow standing in the doorway with malice oozing from his silhouette. She said nothing, but gasped as the terror within her surged into and embraced the evil man. Too late, he shockingly recognized what was happening.

The hunter had just become the quarry.
Staring into his face, trembling only a little, was the cold steel of a .38 caliber revolver, and it was not afraid. As he jerked forward towards the woman and her brood, the weapon spit fire into his face and the stunned invader fell backward. Still moving, the woman came forward as the weapon barked repeatedly.

She stood over the man now, as the stricken predator begged for her to stop shooting. Still terrified, the woman's thoughts flew to how many bullets it would take to still the man's movement and exonerate the safety of her children.

The weapon's last round crushed into the intruder's face, and then a series of disconcerting steel clicks began. After six shots, the big man was still able to move, albeit not too well. Now the heroine's strategy changed, she grabbed her kids and ducked out of the tight space. As she charged out of the house and over to her neighbor's home, the big man, his face and neck ruined, staggered out of the home and into his car.

He only a got a few hundred yards before crashing into a tree.

Again, unarmed intruder
Mother lock your doors
They state revolver but that's not what's shown
it the photo. Of course it's the Examiner.

That was January.

One a month
One is from the U/K.
one incident the person had a knife.

At 800,00 a year there should be at least 66,000 better stories you could relate per month.

You asked for stories where the victims stopped crimes because they were armed.

BTW, the report with the link to the UK, was about Janet Cooper in California. I took the link because it was a news report rather than on a blog.

When a situation is happening, I don't think that the victim should have to ask him or herself whether the intruder is armed or not. When someone breaks down the door in the middle of the night to someone else's home, the person on the other side of the door does not have any way of knowing it's a mistake. When someone is in fear for their lives, they should be able to defend themselves.

You don't know me, don't speak for me or form abstracts from my words with Paige, or assume we are ' buddies ;.
Paige and I have more opposing views than we do similar.
What we do have is a strong respect for others and when we come to an impasse, we agree to disagree.
Paige has a good working knowledge as her base for her statements and the countenance to use her intellect over her emotions.
She probably doesn't own the ability for road rage as she never has does any flaming here.
What Paige and I do have is a mutual enjoyment of doughnuts.

I just don't want you to ever have to use it.
We have or had ICBM's called peace Keepers, it's kind of the same thing for me.
Oh no! Here we go again. Just because the sign reads, ' donuts' , doesn't mean they are not ' doughnut's '! :-)
I never used a Wi-Fi before. I better get off before I discover some outrageous charge from Optimum.
See you in a couple of weeks.

WASHINGTON -- It was Christmas night when Sincere Smith, 2, found his father’s loaded gun on the living room table of their Conway, S.C., mobile home. It took just a second for Smith’s tiny hands to find the trigger and pull. A single bullet ripped into his upper right chest and out his back.

His father, Rondell Smith, said he had turned away to call Sincere’s mother, who had left to visit a friend. His back was turned to the toddler, he said, for just that moment.

Sincere was still conscious when his father scooped him up and rushed him to the hospital, just a few minutes away.

Eleven hours earlier, Sincere Smith had woken up to Christmas -- the first that he was old enough to appreciate. His father remembered their last morning well -– his son ripping through wrapping paper, squealing with delight with each new gift -- his first bike, a bright toy barn.

It was quite a sight seeing Sincere so happy around a cloud of crinkled wrapping paper. “We bought him a little barn thing,” Smith said. “He knew what a barn is. He just seen it -– ‘Oh Mommy, Daddy! Barn!’ He went crazy over it. … He lit up like a Christmas tree.”

Smith, 30, lit up too. “I just wanted to see him open them up,” he said. His own parents were teenagers when they had him. He had vowed to be there for his five children, giving up college and a possible basketball career to take care of them. With Sincere, he promised his wife he’d be a hands-on parent. He said he considered Sincere his best friend.

The two kept close that day visiting relatives for more presents and a Christmas dinner of chicken and macaroni and cheese. “Everything was normal,” Smith said. “He was happy. Everything was good then.”

Two weeks earlier, Smith had bought a .38-caliber handgun to protect his family after bandits had tried to break into their home. He doesn’t know what to say about the national gun-control debate. He just wants that lost second back. “I would say, man, keep them out of your house,” he offered. “It’s just. Boy. All it takes is a second. Just a second to turn your head. I don’t know, sir.”

Sincere died on an ambulance gurney as he was transferred to a second hospital in Charleston.

He never got to ride his new blue Spiderman bike outside. It sits in the trunk of his grandmother Sheila Gaskin's car. "He didn't get to ride his bike," she explained. "It was cold [on Christmas]. My daughter doesn't want to take it back to the store."

Gaskin lives across the street from her daughter and Smith. She saw Sincere every day of his life. "He hear me coming down the road, my gospel music blasting and he hollering 'Nana!'" she recalled. Now, she said she visits his grave every day. She hasn't gotten a full night's sleep since the accident. "It's just killing me," she said.

After Sincere was shot, Rondell Smith thought about taking his own life, Gaskin said. "It's just not good," she said. "It's not good at all. He just has to stay prayed up. ... That's all he can do is give it to God."

Smith wasn't at Sincere's side when he died in the ambulance. He was being interrogated by the police, who eventually charged him with involuntary manslaughter. His next court date is Feb. 8.

As he was rushing Sincere to the hospital, Smith said he told his son that he loved him. "He couldn't really talk," Smith said. "Last thing I heard him say was, 'Daddy.' He kept trying to say 'Daddy.' Believe me I hear it every day."

There were 29 other shooting deaths across the U.S. on Christmas. A soldier was shot and killed in his barracks in Alaska. A man was murdered in the parking lot of Eddie's Bar and Grill in Orrville, Ala. A 23-year-old was shot at a party in Phoenix. A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department employee was killed in a drive-by.

A 20-year-old Louisville, Ky., man was shot and killed after walking his sister home. On Christmas Eve, he had posted an R.I.P. on his Facebook page for a friend and former classmate, who had been gunned down that day.

A 10-year-old in Memphis, Tenn., Alfreddie Gipson, was accidentally shot to death by gun purchased by an older brother, who had gotten the weapon after being bullied at school. Gipson was jumping on a bed when the gun slipped out of a mattress. It discharged when his 12-year-old brother tried to put it back, their mother said at a vigil.

There were at least 41 homicides or accidental gun deaths on New Year's Eve. On New Year's Day, at least 54 people died from bullet wounds.

Through Google and Nexis searches, The Huffington Post has tracked gun-related homicides and accidents throughout the U.S. since the schoolhouse massacre in Newtown, Conn., on the morning of Dec. 14. There were more than 100 such deaths the first week after the school shooting. In the first seven weeks after Newtown, there have been more than 1,280 gunshot homicides and accidental deaths. Slate has counted 1,475 fatal shooting incidents since Newtown, including suicides and police-involved shooting deaths, which The Huffington Post did not include in its tally.

A 17-year-old took his last breath in the backyard of an abandoned house in New Orleans. Prince Jones, 19, was found bleeding to death in a 1998 Buick LeSabre in Nashville, Tenn. A woman was slumped over the steering wheel in Houston, the engine still running.

A 52-year-old man was shot and killed at a Checkers parking lot in Atlanta. A 26-year-old man was shot to death in a church parking lot in Jacksonville, Fla. Steven E. Lawson, 28, was shot and killed just outside a church in Flint, Mich., where he was attending a funeral for another gunshot victim.

On a Tuesday morning in Baton Rouge, La., police knocked on Alean Thomas' door and told her: "You have a young man dead in your driveway." It was her 19-year-old son. Three days later, a 17-year-old in California was killed visiting family for his birthday.

On a Thursday afternoon in New Orleans' Sixth Ward, Dementrius Adams was murdered on his way to buy groceries for his mother. He was 28 and had a 5-year-old daughter. "He was a hard-working man," his sister said told a reporter. "He was so proud of his job. ... He was a good brother, a good father -- he was a loveable man."

Adams had just been promoted from a dishwashing job to cook at a New Orleans restaurant.

The dead included grandmothers and a 6-month-old. There were police officers and a Texas prosecutor. There was a Bodega worker in Queens, N.Y., and a gas station attendant in East Orange, N.J.

A high school majorette, a college freshman at Auburn University and a man planning to get his GED in Bradenton, Fla., were killed. One victim became Chicago's 500th murder of 2012. Another was his town's 40th. One was found frozen and bloody in an alley -- Tacoma, Wash.'s first slaying of 2013. The victim, a mother, was planning to move with her daughters to Manhattan.

"I am lost, hollow," said the mother of the GED aspirant gunned down at a Chevron station on New Year's Day.

In Newport News, Va., after a shooting broke out, a mother ran outside to protect her two sons, ages 5 and 7. She yelled at one of the gunman and was killed.

A Davidson, N.C., husband murdered his wife, then shot himself. Their 3-year-old daughter was found watching TV in another room.

On Jan. 11, in Baltimore, Devon Shields, 26, was found lying in a street with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. Three hours later, Delroy Davis was found lying face-up between two houses. Two-and-a-half hours later, Baltimore police rushed to a double-shooting that left one man dead with multiple gunshot wounds. The next day, Sean Rhodes was found "lying face-down in a pool of blood," according to the Baltimore City Paper. Two others survived gunshot wounds.

Silly arguments became final arguments. A man was murdered over two broken cigarettes. Another after getting into a spat at a taco truck. Travis Len Massey, 23, was shot and killed by his sister's boyfriend in a family dispute over a missing gun. A 52-year-old Jacksonville man shot and killed a longtime friend over an argument, according to police. When asked what the argument was about, the gunman said he didn't remember, according to a television report.

A 6-year-old accidentally killed a 4-year-old. A different 4-year-old accidentally killed a 58-year-old.

Alexander Xavier Shaw, 18, put a gun to his head to show how safe it was. "Witnesses told officers that Shaw, his uncle, grandparents and some friends were on the back patio talking when he showed them a .38-caliber revolver," a St. Petersburg, Fla., newspaper account said. The gun accidentally fired, killing Shaw.